Long Run Report

Yesterday I had 13.1 miles on the books.  Going into the run, I had two goals:

1. Don’t go out too fast.  I struggle with this a lot during a race.  Especially when I am properly rested and fueled, it is so hard to hold myself back at the beginning of a run/race because I feel SO good.  It is sometimes hard to remember in the first couple of miles that I need to save energy for the end! A negative split is perfect: go conservative at the beginning, and turn it on towards the end. The last thing that I want to happen in my marathon is to use all of my energy up too soon and feel dead at the end.
2. Proper pacing.  I read that most marathoners make the same mistake while training: running their long runs too fast and running their speed work too slow.  I really want to work on this to make sure that my runs have variety.  It is so easy to just go out and “run” however I am feeling that day.  By forcing myself to run fast or run slow and steady, I am training my body in the best way to prepare for the marathon.

It is just so crazy how much prep goes into running a marathon!

Anyway, here are my mile splits:

 

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 1:59:56.1 13.11 9:09 1 9:14.5 1.00 9:14 2 9:01.4 1.00 9:01 3 9:25.5 1.00 9:26 4 9:22.4 1.00 9:22 5 9:33.4 1.00 9:33 6 9:23.8 1.00 9:24 7 9:13.2 1.00 9:13 8 9:13.5 1.00 9:13 9 9:10.5 1.00 9:11 10 9:11.9 1.00 9:12 11 9:04.0 1.00 9:04 12 8:42.7 1.00 8:43 13 8:30.0 1.00 8:30 14 :49.5 0.11 7:48

Overall, I am really happy with this run.  The course I ran is pretty hilly- with the last 2.5 miles TOTALLY UPHILL. Even with the hills, I was able to run a negative split and run the second half a lot faster than the first.  I started out too fast in the first couple of miles and forced myself to slow down early on. Right around mile 10 I realized that I could probably finish at or just under 2 hours, so I picked up my pace to make it happen.  It was a fun challenge, but I was probably going too fast at the end for just a training run. However, since it was a “shorter” long run, I felt safe picking it up a bit.  Next weekend I have 17 miles to do.  I certainly do not plan on running my 17 miler at a 9:09 pace.  Instead, I want to slow down to around 9:30- a long sloooww run.  

Overall, I am feeling good and thank God for running! I feel so blessed to be able to do this. I love the challenge, setting goals, and seeing myself improve.

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